1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a closure assembly. More particularly, this invention relates to a child-resistant dispensing closure useful on containers of liquids or gels and the like. On its top wall the assembly has sealing means surrounded by an alignment sleeve which aligns the sealing means with the top of a container spout and prevents cocking of the closure while it is screwed onto the container after filling. This enhances the consistency and quality of the seal and makes the closure assembly especially suitable for screwing onto a container by high-speed capping machinery.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under .sctn..sctn.1.97-1.99
There have been in the past dispensing assemblies comprising a lid and a lid carrier, the carrier, for instance, having threads to enage the threaded mouth of a plastic bottle. Examples are found in U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,221, issued Nov. 28, 1978 to Mary A. Vere, and U.S. Pat. No. 4,533,058, which issued Aug. 6, 1985 to Albert P. Uhlig. Various means are provided in these patents to make them difficult for children to open.
Another closure assembly is diclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,244,495, which issued Jan. 13, 1981 To Willy Lorscheid et al. In this patent the lid has a downward latch which may be unlatched by either shifting the lid on its hinge so that the latch clears its catching ledge, or pressing inward a portion of the carrier itself to flex the latch towards the hinge without moving the lid. When the latch is so flexed, it clears its catching ledge and the lid may be raised. The lid carrier of Lorscheid is formed with a downward sleeve which sealingly engages the inside of the neck of a container. Similar sealing sleeves are also noted in Vere and Uhlig.
One of the problems with the closure assemblies of the prior art is that when they are applied to a container by high-speed filling equpment, there is occasional misalignment or cocking of the closure and the container. When the closure is misaligned with the container, any effort by the machinery to screw the closure onto the container exacerbates the problem and results in poor seals or "leakers." It can also result in a jamming and a shutdown of the machinery until the unit which is the cause of the problem can be cleared out of the machine.
This problem can be well imagined reviewing the art cited above, which invariably involves a seal having a tapered outer edge adapted to wedge into the top of the container. It can be well imagined that such a closure, when seated on top of the container neck, can become canted at the tapered surface, with the consequent problem described above.